Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/33

ARKWRIGHT. previously invented machinery had been able to produce cotton thread of sufficient tenuity and strength to be used as warp. An invention, in- deed, by Charles Wyatt of Birmingham, which was patented in 1738, but never succeeded, deprives Arkwright of the honor of having been the first to use rollers in spinning: but there is no reason to believe that he owed anything to this previous attempt. The first suggestion of the idea, he said, was derived from seeing a red- hot iron bar elongated by being made to pass between rollers. At this time Arkwright was so poor that he needed to be furnished with a .suit of clothes before he could appear to vote at an election as a burgess of Preston. Soon after, he removed to Nottingham, to escape the popular rage, which had already driven Hargreaves, the inventor of the sjiinning-jeiini/, out of Lancashire. Here he fortunately fell in with Jedediah Strutt of Derby, the celebrated improver of the stocking- frame, who entered into partnership with him, in conjunction with his partner, Mr. Reed. In 1769 Arkwright set up his first mill, driven by horses, and took out a patent for his invention. In 1771 he set up a larger factory, with water-power, at C'romford, in Derbyshire. Not only was his labor- saving machinery well arranged and ingeniously devised, but he efTected such a division of labor and organization of his employes that the great- est efficiency of production was secured. From these mills of Arkwright the modern factory system takes its origin. He was one of the first to introduce the steam-engine into his factories, and the mill at Nottingham was supplied with a Boulton and Watts steam-engine of 1790. The remarkable capabilities of his mind were strik- ingly evinced in the management of the great business. In 1775 he took out a fresh patent for various additional improvements in machinery. The success attending these undertakings stimu- lated rivals to invade his patent; and to such an extent did other cotton-spinners use his designs, that he was obliged, in 1781, to prosecute at once nine difTerent manufacturers. The first action, against Colonel Mordaunt, backed by a strong combination of Lancashire manufacturers, was lost, solely on the ground that the description in his specification was not sufficiently clear and distinct. The other actions were abandoned; and, in the following year, Arkwright published a pamphlet containing a statement of his ease. In a new trial, in 178.5, he obtained a favorable verdict. The wliole question, however, was brought filially before the Court of King's Bench, a few months after, when Arkwright's claim to the inventions patented was for the first time called in question. On the doubtful evidence of a person named Highs, or Hayes, combined with that of Arkwright's old assistant, Kay, the jury decided against him, and his patent was annulled. This was but the formal outcome of an opposition which had from the beginning marked out Arkwright as an object of hostility. The manufacturers at first combined to discountenance the use of his yarn, hen the yarn was made into calicoes, and" Parliament was petitioned to lessen the duty on that cloth, they strenuously oppo.sed the measure, but in vain. Popular animosity was also excited against the man who apparently displaced labor, but in real- ity increased its sphere ; and on one occasion, a large factory belonging to Arkwright was de- stroyed in the presence of a powerful military and police force, without a word of interference from the magistrates. The energy and good sense of Arkwright triumphed over all opposi- tion, and at the time of his death, in 1792, the value of his property amounted to about $500,- 000. In 1786 he was appointed high-sheriiT of Derbyshire and was also knighted by George III. See Baine's Histori/ of Cotton Manufacture and Ure's Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain.

ARLBERG, iirl'berK. A famous mountain pass between the Rh.Ttian and the Lech Alps, connecting Tvrol with Vorarlberg (Map: Austria, B 3). It lies at an altitude of 5840 feet, along the watershed between the Danube and the Rhine. In 1786 a road was laid across the pass which in those times formed the only means of eomraunication between Vorarlberg and the rest of Austria. The construction of the Arl- berg railway from Innsbruck to Bludenz, begun in 1880, necessitated the cutting of a tunnel through the pass. The tunnel is situated between Sanct Anton and Langen and has a total length of nearly 6.5 miles. The highest point of the tun- nel is 4260 feet, and the difference between the altitudes of the eastern and western ends is 280 feet. The timnel was completed in three and one-half years, at a cost of over $7,500,000.

ARLES, Fr. pron. arl ; Eng. pron. iirlz {an- ciently. Lat. Arelate, or Arelas. from Celt. Ar- laeth. "on the marshy land"). One of the oldest towns in France, in the Department of Bouches- du-Rhone, situated on the left bank of the prin- cipal branch of the Rhone, after it has divided into a delta (Map: France, L 8). Aries carries on a considerable trade. It has manufactures of silk, hats, tobacco, brandy, etc., and forms a market for the productions of the surrounding country. It possesses a college, a naval .school, a public library, and a superb nuiseum of antiqui- ties in natural history. A canal has been cut which connects Aries with the south coast. Rail- ways also bring it into easy communication with Marseilles, Avignon, Nimes, Montpellier, etc. Under the Romans, it was the seat of a pre- fecture; afterwards, for some time, the residence of the Gothic King Euric, and from 879 the metropolis of the kingdom of Aries, or of Cis- jurane Burgundy (.see Burgi'NDY). This king- dom was united in 933 with that of Transjurane Burgundy, and this larger Arletan realm was ruled by native kings until 1032. On the ex- tinction of this line, the Arletan territories were taken possession of by the German Emperor Con- rad II. In the early Christian times, several important councils were convened here (in 314, 353, 452, and 475). At the famous council (synod) of 353, the cause of Arianism gained a temporary triumph. Among the antiquities of Aries are an amphitheatre (Les Arfenes) which accommodated between 20,000 and 30,000 spectators : the ruins of a theatre, also of a palace of Constantine the Great; an obelisk of granite dug up from the mud of the Rhone in 1389: a burial-place (the Elysian Fields) used by the Romans ; and a Romanesque cathedral dedicated to Saint Trophiraus, the western portal of which is a unique exam])le of Gallo-Byzan- tine :ut. Population, in 1896, 12,755; in 'l901, 15,5ni;.

ARLES, The Kingdom op. See Burgundy.

ARLINCOURT, ar'h-ix'koiJr', Charles Victor Prevot, Vicomte d' (1789-185G). A French